Yorkshire band Embrace are to release their new album, Love Is A Basic Need on Cooking Vinyl Records 2 March. There will be a tour coming up too with a date at Leeds o2 Academy on Saturday 7 April.

I talked to the band's bass player, Steve Firth about the band's return.

It has been a while since your last album, was it a conscious decision to have a break?
To be honest the album has been ready for the best part of a year. We then had to find a record company, then after that they wanted a long lead in time to release the album. The most exciting part of it all is going out on tour and seeing the fans' reactions to the new songs.

What was the small club tour like that you did last November?

We played Fibbers in York and it was one of the best gigs on the tour. The gig was sold out and because it is such a small venue it was rammed, we could not fit in all our gear onto the small stage. We had to get an angle grinder to adjust the stage to make it work for us. We are always grateful and surprised by the fans' support for the band and the York gig was very special.

Coming from Yorkshire you always get a good reception here

Sometimes we are called a Huddersfield band, but we are all from Halifax and Bradford really. We are proud of our Yorkshire roots, that is why the York Fibbers gig was so special. I prefer these smaller gigs to the big arena gigs. We did play a gig once at the Victoria Theatre in Halifax, it was like a homecoming gig.

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Have you heard about the plans for the Bradford Odeon?

It sounds a great idea and we would love to play there. It is what the city needs and I'm sure it would do well. I hope it is successful. I saw a lot of groups at St George's Hall in Bradford over the years such as The Damned, The Buzzcocks, Joy Division and The Cure.

Why do you think there are no groups anymore in the singles chart?

I'm not sure. I don't follow the singles chart to be honest as it's not my type of music. It is a lot cheaper these days for bands to make new records with the internet and all the technology. Vinyl is making a big comeback too and we can survive with the popularity of vinyl and we sell quite a lot of T Shirts when we go out on tour.

What do you miss about Yorkshire when away on tour?

I went to college in Liverpool for 3 years and the landscape was so flat, whereas Yorkshire is so hilly and the countryside is gorgeous - I didn't notice it until I was away from Yorkshire. There was a programme on TV recently about 100 Greatest Walks and Yorkshire was the most represented county. There are so many good walks up in the Dales and also around Malham Tarn.

The new album, Love Is A Basic Need is released on 2 March
The Leeds gig is on Saturday 7 April at the o2 Academy